Recently Intel released their opensource driver tool (https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/2013/intel-linux-graphics-installer) which auto-selects the right drivers for your intel chipset (in my case, I was using the i915 driver). Because I started using Steam on Linux to play some older games I thought I would use the Intel 'official' drivers to ensure I get the best performance. Unfortunately, since installing the drivers, the computer fan is very loud and the battery doesn't last that long (it's cut battery life in half). On top of that, there's no noticeable difference when playing games on Steam.

My question is, how do I revert back to the original drivers?

If I run the Intel graphic driver installer I get the following output in the terminal (not in the GUI) so I assume I will somehow need to run apt-get with some type of downgrade flag (I'm not sure how to do that) against these packages.

In the end I found this to be too frustrating to wait for the right answer. In order to fix the situation, I upgraded to version 12.10. It completely wiped all traces of the Intel drivers and I now have a quiet and cooler laptop.

thanks a million! I'll try this later tonight. Hopefully I'll not destroy my system in the process :)
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rimezApr 12 '13 at 7:25

Hopefully your system will be ok :) I have tried those steps and it solves mine. Btw, I am using ubuntu 12.10
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AsrafApr 12 '13 at 7:32

I did a thorough review, it seems that this method will only replace the actual driver without uninstalling the MANY dependencies which were installed.
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rimezApr 12 '13 at 8:56

2

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
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Kevin BowenApr 12 '13 at 9:12

Guys.. this question can be closed. I got fed-up with this issue and decided to do something a little drastic - I simply upgraded to 12.10. It's resolved my issue for now.
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rimezApr 12 '13 at 13:43